How to understand Chongqing forest

Wong Kar-wai's characters are almost all self-employed, with few families and family members. The absence of family and the prominence of individualism emphasize the rootless feeling of film unity, revealing a feeling of desolation and short life, which corresponds to the double eschatological anxiety of freedom, society and the twentieth century in Hong Kong under the limit of 1997, and turns into emotional near-greed, paranoid concentration and endless anxiety about the passage of time.

The characters in Wong Kar-wai's films always appear as killers, prostitutes, policemen, stewardesses and other fixed identities, which also have special meanings. Killers and women are marginal occupations that are excluded from the legal profession and are not allowed by law. Although police and flight attendants are normal industries within the system, they are characterized by mobility, alienation and instability. Put on a police uniform and become a numbered patrol aircraft, constantly patrolling the streets. And the stewardess, wearing makeup, kept shuttling between countries on earth. Different lands have different names. These identities reveal the sense of absurdity in essence and show Wong Kar-wai's basic views on people living in social classes. Although Wong Kar-wai is full of depression and pessimism in the treatment of time and space and the design of stories, the characters in Wong Kar-wai's novels often act in incredible ways, which makes people feel their love for "living at this moment".

Whether punk in the 1960s, chivalrous man in unknown time and space, or fallen angels in the 1990s, although they are at a loss about the future, they feel the present moment wholeheartedly. One minute of air, one minute of city, one minute of galloping pleasure, one minute of kissing ... pessimistic about life but full of passion and yearning for life. Wong Kar-wai himself once said in an interview: "In fact, the characters in my movies are optimistic, so they all survived in the end. Only through this insistence of "only here and now" can we feel that "it is optimistic to survive" and explain the extreme behavior of Wong Kar-wai's characters.

framework

◎ Take a view [mirror]

A. jiao

1. high angle [[depression angle]

When Wu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is frustrated, he will kick a coke can under May's window. At this time, the camera is shooting his behavior from top to bottom. We can say that the lens was shot from the window, so it seems that Ah Wu's fall from grace is obvious. In other words, he is not important to May.

2. Low angle [elevation]

I once took a mirror in the first story. When Wu realized that he was lovelorn and rushed to the overpass, the camera inadvertently shot 633 [Tony Leung Chiu Wai] from the elevation. Such a short elevation lens brings out the coincidence of time and space.

3. Inclined

Late at night, when Wu gathered all his friends in front of the fast food restaurant, the camera was obviously tilted. This tendency brings many meanings. On the one hand, Ah Wu's own life lost its focus, was looked down upon by reality, and his heart was empty. This makes his position higher than the slope. On the other hand, show the speaker on the other end of the phone that he is insignificant.

B. Distance

close-up shot

In the first story, time is very important to Awu and the female killer [Brigitte Lin], so the film constantly reminds the audience of the important position that "time" plays in the film.

2. Extreme close-up [big close-up]

In Chongqing Forest, the close-up of time has a big close-up of May 1 day. Compared with the close-up above, it shows the month, day, minute and second, and the big close-up only shows the date. Since May 1 day is the expected date of delivery, a large close-up is used to show the urgency of time.

C. Mobile framing

1. Tilt [sway]

This is centered on the lens, shaking up and down.

2. Panorama [scrolling]

Take the camera as the center and shake it from side to side.

The most obvious of the above two photography techniques is that when Brigitte Lin and a group of Indians are shopping, Indians take pictures of Brigitte Lin with their cameras, and the cameras swing from side to side. This effect implies the instability that Brigitte Lin may have buried in this mission, that is, she may fail.

3. Portable camera [portable photography]

Follow-up shooting [tracking]

This is a skill that Wong Kar-wai used extensively in Chongqing Forest. The feature is that the picture is unstable and vacillating, and the function of subjective lens is provided later, so that we can follow the protagonist and observe her every move, while ignoring others around us. In other words, we are close to the protagonist, but far from others, which provides the effect of the crowd; I pass by millions of people every day, but I don't find them.

4. Freeze [stop]

When Wu meets Faye Wong, the camera stops completely. This pause naturally shows some meaning in this film. First of all, it represents the connection point between the two stories, giving Ah Wu enough time to tell the truth and lead to Afei's next story. On the other hand, they strengthened their passing and had an intersection. In addition, Wong Kar-wai's personal style of not wanting to be limited by time is also obvious.

This movie, Wong Kar-wai, creates an effect and feeling similar to [MTV] in a way different from ordinary movies. In the second story, when Effie sneaked into 633 houses to clean, she didn't say a word during the whole process. Instead, a song seemed to represent her mood. From the beginning of the song, the camera showed us a series of behaviors and actions. This makes it easy for us to focus only on the protagonist and ignore others, but at the same time it is difficult for us to go deep into the inner world of the protagonist and not discuss the past. What we see is only superficial and short-lived. Such alienation can be said to be the standard product of civilization. Alienation and loneliness are one of the topics discussed in Chongqing Forest.

Scene scheduling

Scene scheduling

Scene scheduling contains many elements, such as scenes, lighting, clothing, body movements and so on. Through the scene scheduling, we can find that the film Chongqing Forest is full of the breath of street life and conveys the universal existence of "loneliness" in the crowd.

This film is a combination of almost different stories of two characters, which seems to be completely unrelated, but in fact they are definitely not two completely independent individuals, and there is a certain relationship between them. Careful observation reveals that the protagonists in the second half of the three stories, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Faye Wong and Zhou Jialing, have all appeared in the first half of the story. These three pictures should be deliberately arranged, appearing for a short time and the characters are not obvious. If it is cut off, it should not affect the development of the previous story. However, why should this arrangement be made? "Every day, you have the opportunity to pass by everyone. You may know nothing about them, but they may become your confidants or friends in the future. " This is what Takeshi Kaneshiro said at the beginning of the film, and this arrangement just responded to this sentence. These characters have all appeared in the same time and space, but they don't know each other; It's like we keep passing people by every day, but we ignore others in a hurry. In other words, everyone is absorbed in every minute of his life and can't communicate with another life at all. This is a helpless lifestyle in urban life.

Fast food restaurants and convenience stores are scenes that have appeared in both stories. It shows the characteristics of "fast food culture" in urban life. This place emphasizes "fast", so there are few opportunities for emotional and verbal communication between people. This is in sharp contrast with the traditional market. At the very least, bargaining with the boss in the market, or just asking for onions, can bring us closer. But in convenience stores and other places, there are almost no such opportunities. Living in the city, everyone is in a hurry. Who will notice everyone else's every move?

Takeshi Kaneshiro, who is lovelorn in the film, likes to seek comfort by calling; Tony Leung Chiu Wai habitually spoke to the furnishings in his home. What they have in common is loneliness, loneliness and loss. This is a common problem in modern life, and in this environment, there will be opportunities to encounter these problems. Once we meet it, we must face it, not run away from it. Although there are different ways, just as Takeshi Kaneshiro chose to call and Tony Leung Chiu Wai used dialogue, the purpose is the same: to get emotional expression through these actions.

Its spatial treatment reflects the life experience of a sparsely populated urbanite: closed but movable [such as bars, hotels, airports and escalators] and easily intruded [such as rooms in Faye Wong, Tony Leung Chiu Wai]. The window of Tony Leung Chiu Wai's room is actually an escalator for people to come and go, and it also reflects the unstable living experience that is easily disturbed, invaded, which directly causes people's insecurity, wants to escape, and longs for a stable, private and only their own space. In addition, a large number of night scenes, indoor scenes and people coming and going are not only eerie, but also invisible and inhuman.

Judging from the common characteristics of these places, the characteristics of urban life are unobstructed. Besides, it wants to convey more than just the city of Hong Kong. In fact, as long as all parts of the world are called "cities", these situations will occur. The distance between people is getting farther and farther, and people are becoming more and more indifferent. People have a mentality of "cleaning their own snow", which is very different from the agricultural society in the past. Sadly, we can't seem to turn back, and we can only accept that this is a fact. We have no choice but to live in it and can't change it.

music

Music [music]

"Repetition" is the biggest formal difference between Wong Kar-wai as an excellent China film writer and other writers. Whether it is people, places, lines or music, there will be some repetition or overlap. From When Tears Flowed, Chongqing Forest to fallen angels, and even the new work Spring Festival, the same specific music is used in a certain person and place, showing the characteristics of theme music. Of course, this part of the discussion is only aimed at the film Chongqing Forest.

The two core figures in the first half of Chongqing Forest are Brigitte Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Among them, Takeshi Kaneshiro's theme music is not obvious; The perceptual forest and the image of Brigitte Lin simultaneously opened the curtain for the film. Since then, this piece of music has become the motif of Brigitte Lin's music, which runs through one closed space after another with her hasty sprint. In addition, through the skills of lens and photography, and the coordination with the rhythm of music, Brigitte Lin's killer identity presents a rather complicated side: mystery, suspense, coldness and infatuation.

Dennis Brown's [[Things in Life]], as the theme music hanging on the signboard of Vigorous Spleen Wine, is commonly referred to as the body image of a female bartender with deep sexual temptation and the auditory destroyer of her sexual relationship with White Boss. The rhythm of Brown's songs is short and lively, and the light and hasty sex between men and women in the film strengthens their sexual excitement, especially the phantom of the female bartender's snake body, which is more vivid through the catalysis of music. In the second half of music, rock or pop songs are widely used as narrative motif music. The most important thing is the [[California Dream]] of moms and dads. This song, as the theme music of Faye Wong, not only guides her to turn her imaginary time and space into reality step by step, but also constitutes an important adhesive and transformation factor for narrative development. [[California Dream]] The whole story is presented in the form of dramatic music, which clearly expresses Faye Wong's musical preferences and dreams from the very beginning. When he finished filming Sleepwalking in California in Hong Kong and flew to the dream field, Sleepwalking in California became Tony Leung Chiu Wai's new dream, hoping to return to Faye Wong and complete the unfinished California contract. Sure enough, the familiar Song Ling led Wang Fei back to the old place and reunited with Liang.

Dana Watson's [[A day is so different]] depicts a brief encounter between Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Zhou Jialing. The lazy and hypnotic singing in Washington and Zhou Jialing's wanton foreplay delay make the soaring lust even more unbearable. The same music also appeared in the part where Tony Leung Chiu Wai went to see Faye Wong on the Midnight Express after his epiphany. Only this time, there is less half-naked female body to point at, less sexual call, and more embarrassment and joy of strangers.

Chongqing forest is a noise, a cold noise. Chongqing Forest is two silent urban love stories, silently burying the crying from the bottom of my heart and hiding it a little to delay the time. Young men and women's faces are engraved with lonely labels, spinning in their feelings, shaking their hand-held lenses under the city lights, which belong to the marriage created by Wong Kar-wai and the sadness of passing by.

1994 Chongqing forest, lonely as time ashes. The ashes of time give loneliness a desert of soul, while Chongqing forest gives loneliness a painful quagmire. Brigitte Lin kills people at night, and Takeshi Kaneshiro arrests people at night. They are together, indifferent in the shaking life, hiding in the dark with no answer, meeting in a sad bar, and forgetting each other in a moment of tossing and turning relative to the warmth at hand. Takeshi Kaneshiro's cans are piling up when his feelings expire, Tony Leung Chiu Wai's towel is in tears in pain, and Faye Wong is dancing in his own sky. Everything is close at hand, but I can't see clearly. I only compress my mood in loneliness, and it will rain on sunny days, as long as my heart is good.

The sunshine in California may be brighter. I always hope this song can open a lonely window, and you will always find that Wong Kar-wai is arranged in the coldest conditions.

Lonely heart tossing and turning, waiting for the next stop in the middle of ups and downs. Time flies, which means a little time in the cracks.